Baltimore-area hospitals have been adding extra amenities — including gardens, art collections, valet parking and live music — to make patient stays less arduous.

While hospitals across the U.S. implemented hotel-style amenities in the early 2000s, Baltimore-area hospitals were slow to catch up to the trend.

“Maryland was way behind the rest of the country in the age of plant for several years there,” said Jim Reiter, spokesman for the Maryland Hospital Association. Some hospital buildings dated back to the 1940s, he noted.

The most recent additions are at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where a pair of 12-story towers opened last year with 560 all-private patient rooms.

The hospital also built a 30,000-square-foot supplemental kitchen to allow patients and families to order any meal from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Families can also make use of kitchenettes and laundry facilities.

“People come to us from all over the world to get the … care we provide, but for the local marketplace it was especially important because a lot of hospitals have been building new wings and renovating,” said Dawn Luzetsky, assistant director of pediatric nursing at Johns Hopkins. Competitiveness is not the core reason for providing extra amenities, she said, but it’s a factor.

Luzetsky was involved in the planning, along with Sherri Jones, assistant director of pediatric nursing, quality and safety.

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